UV-photorefractive effect in LiNbO3:Ce:Mn single crystal

In this paper, the ultraviolet (UV) photorefraction effect of lithium niobate doubly doped with Ce and Mn has been investigated. It is found the diffraction efficiency shows oscillating behavior under UV-light-recording. A model based on electrons and holes as the dominant carriers is proposed to study the oscillatory behavior of the diffraction efficiency. On the basis of the material equations and the coupled-wave equations, we found that the oscillatory behavior is due to the oscillation of the relative spatial phase shift Φ. And the electron–hole competition may cause the oscillation of the relative spatial phase shift. This oscillation behavior is different from that caused by very high-strength space electric field. UV recording can suppress the beam-fanning perfectly, and the most important is the high sensitivity.